How do people fail at this?

SimpleMeLike said:
Scataphagos, you are right.

This is what happen to me and two of my friends. I lost about $7000 in about 6 months trying to trade with no experience, and just trying random things I found on internet or just following some random trading chat room person following their trades. All kind of mistakes with REAL money. I would think of an idea at night and try it the next day. If I made money, I would then go brag to my buddy. Next day get some losses, get mad, Change up again. Then someone in the chat room would tell me try this method, I try it too. Losing money all over the place. I stopped after losing about $7000, when I loss about $800 in one day after about 35 trades. I just said to myself "Man, you don't know what the hell you are doing, stop messing around wasting money, take a step back", unfortunately my two other friends went on to lose a lot more money going from purchase trading method to trading method. One friend really lost alot of money trusting all sorts of things with real money.

I look back now and wish I had better guidance/mentor from the beginning or found the ET forum earlier. I wish I had ask the right questions and trade paper instead of my real capital. I wish I had invested in quality trading education and ask questions before risking my real capital. Luckily I did not lose a lot of money and got some guidance now and continue my journey. I look at it as tuition and cost of business. I will say, you have to dedicate the time to this journey and may cost.

If I can say anything to anyone starting out new: VERIFY VERIFY Verify, Ask Alot of the right questions, Trade paper money til you see positive results. Don't waste your hard earn money trading if you not sure what you doing. It really takes practice and trial and error. Use the forum to ask questions.
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And I think a trader should practice, practice until he finds an edge that works for him. And he makes that edge work first on a sim. If he can’t make it work on a sim it certainly WILL NOT work live, with real money on the line. Even if it does work on a sim that does not mean it will work as good live because you got the “fill issue”on the sim vs live trading but if a trader can make it work consistent with sim at least he will have a better chance when going live.

All the emotional issues will kick in once a trader goes live. So that is another whole arena to be mastered but on a sim a trader can discover, get, and hone an edge while learning. No need to throw real money out there while in this discovery and honing process.

When a trader finds an edge he should practice...practice...practice...and practice it over and over until it becomes second nature. Then look at going live and dealing with the emotional issues. Always start live very small, never big. Once a trader gains a goodly measure of confidence in his methodology, his ability to trade live, his capacity to execute his edge live, and prove to himself that he can be consistent in making profits then a trader can think of stepping up into bigger size. IMHO
 
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volpri said:
And I think a trader should practice, practice until he finds an edge that works for him. And he makes that edge work first on a sim. If he can’t make it work on a sim it certainly WILL NOT work live, with real money on the line. Even if it does work on a sim that does not mean it will work as good live because you got the “fill issue”on the sim vs live trading but if a trader can make it work consistent with sim at least he will have a better chance when going live.

All the emotional issues will kick in once a trader goes live. So that is another whole arena to be mastered but on a sim a trader can discover, get, and hone an edge while learning. No need to throw real money out there while in this discovery and honing process.

When a trader finds an edge he should practice...practice...practice...and practice it over and over until it becomes second nature. Then look at going live and dealing with the emotional issues. Always start live very small, never big. Once a trader gains a goodly measure of confidence in his methodology, his ability to trade live, his capacity to execute his edge live, and prove to himself that he can be consistent in making profits then a trader can think of stepping up into bigger size. IMHO
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Hello volpri,

Thanks for the write up, its well appreciate it.

I agree with you, and that is why I am still in SIM practicing and practicing and studying. I have capital to trade live, but it reserve til I am ready. You are right about that emotional issue when trading live, those emotions must be replaced with confidence and beleif in what the trader is doing.

I agree with you everything you said. Especially on the emotional side. Confidence is needed and that comes from my practice and repeated practice.
 
Most people fail at this because they are missguided and miseducated by the heaps of online guides. Sure, some of it is very much spot on, but we're talking about a small minority.

Of course you won't know this until you become correctly educated - it's a catch 22 situation. When you're on top of your game you can call out the BS quite easily based on your prior knowledge and experience.

So yea, most fail because they go at it alone and don't have the correct support, or they just fail to hit the point where the penny finally drops and they have that 'ah ha' moment.

Also, FX retail trading/speculation is a dirty industry - rifled with scam brokers, scam marketeers and scam promotions. Any FX trader who comes out of the woodwork is almost automatically tarnished for taking part in such an industry when there are far superior, cleaner and perhaps derivatives that require a higher level of education and technical understanding.
 
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Being balanced I can agree with, but being leveraged doesn't really guarantee profit all the time. In fact sometimes leverage can mean your down fall.
 
SimpleMeLike said:
BaconSandwich

I agree with you 100%. What is your opinion on a trader becoming correctly educated?
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It's a tough one, perhaps the most crucial question of them all?

My own personal route was to self-learn by trial and error, learning what did and didn't work. I come from a data analyst background so I was comfortably able to record all variables from a quantified point of view, thus being able to drill down into what does work whilst finding out why...and also being able to drill down into what doesn't work whilst also finding out why. Long story short; you find a middle ground and explore potential edges.

I do often wonder what attributes or background a potential trader needs to come from in order to make a fluent transition - there's certainly some industries that lend themselves to being advantageous.

Again cutting a long story short, to become correctly educated IMHO you need to go it alone. If you don't hit the mark then you don't hit the mark. I'd ignore all online resources. You have a chart in front you, that's all that matters - nothing else. Keep it really simple. Voilà! (after a good few years)
 
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